Jo Konta says she "lost her way for a while" in tennis -- to the point where she thought about quitting the sport.
For all of Konta's success last season, when she moved up more than 100 places in the world rankings from No.150 to 48 and made the last 16 of the US Open, Britain's leading female player disclosed how she has not always been so content or focused.
"I couldn't quite find my enjoyment, and I couldn't quite think why I was doing what I was doing," Konta, referring to the period before 2015, told ESPN in the build-up to the Australian Open.
"I've been playing this sport for a long time and I had been going through the motions. I hadn't been quite clear on the direction or on what I was doing and what I was trying to get out of it.
"I've definitely had thoughts in the past when I thought about quitting, when I was down and I asked myself, 'Why am I doing this?' Though there was never a time when that became more than just a fleeting thought."
Even for a player who won serious prize money in 2015 -- her run at Flushing Meadows alone was worth more than £136,000 ($200,000) -- Konta admitted she has not reached a financial comfort zone, such is the expense of travelling the world and paying her team.
It was in the spring last year that the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) informed her that they would be chopping her funding, and the only way that she could make it work was that her Spanish coaches, Esteban Carril and Jose-Manuel Garcia, took a voluntary pay cut.
Even before that blow, in a determined effort to stay positive, Konta was travelling what appears to be something like a hippy tennis trail. Or perhaps that should be the happy tennis trail.
You might think that professional tennis is no place for such an approach, yet she will quietly be giving thanks for the sunshine every morning during the Australian Open, which starts on Monday and has seen her drawn in the first round against Venus Williams.
If not giving thanks for the sunshine, then Konta will be doing so for the food in the local supermarket, for being out in the fresh air, or for whatever else she can think of that day that she ought to be grateful for. Creating such a daily list of joy gives her a positive outlook.
The 24-year-old will likely need that upbeat attitude when she takes to the court at Melbourne Park next week, too, with the resurgent Williams, a player she grew up watching, providing a tough opening opponent.
The American, now world No.10, capped an impressive 2015 with victory at Zuhai, but Konta should be optimistic in the first Grand Slam of the season after her own good season.
Konta's 2015 highlights included beating Simona Halep, the world No.2, in Wuhan, and she came close to torpedoing Williams at the same tournament, serving for the match before losing 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
Speaking before the Australian Open draw, the Briton said: "A big thing for me last year was that I got a lot of enjoyment back.
"I became very grateful for little things, like sunshine. I really simplified it. As a tennis player, yes, you are in the sunshine for much of the year, but how often do you appreciate it?
"I have a habit of every day listing up to five things that I'm grateful for. It puts me in a good frame of mind. It's a thought process," she added, with the work of her mind coach, Juan Coto, maybe coming through.
"It's about always reminding myself when I'm having a crap day or after I've just had a fight with my parents that, hang on a second, there is always something to be grateful for. It's about keeping things in perspective.
"There was no lightbulb moment. I'm a firm believer in a process. I had to have a lot of experiences, and go through a lot of challenges and hurdles, to be able to get to the frame of mind that I had in 2015.
"It was a progression of things. It was about getting comfortable being uncomfortable. To knuckle down very forcefully and make sure that, with the things I could control, I did my best. That gave me a huge amount of satisfaction, and the enjoyment came from that."
There is something eminently sensible about Konta. However, her run at last year's US Open, which began in the qualifying tournament, made some observers a little giddy.
The Australian-born player's response, after an impressive victory against 18th seed Andrea Petkovic, was: "It's not like I've grown wings or found a cure for cancer -- I've just won a tennis match."
But did Konta's success give her enough financial comfort to increase her coaches' pay to their pre-cut levels? "I'm not going to be discussing that. But it's no secret that there was a restructure at the LTA and that had a certain effect on me and my team.
"The biggest thing to take away from this is that I feel like I'm lucky to have such good people around me, people who believe in me and the work that we do together. That's the main thing."
Asked how high a tennis player needs to be in the rankings to stop worrying about money, she replied: "I'll let you know once I get to that point. I think it's very individual.
"You look at the numbers for prize money and it's not quite the money you receive because you are taxed locally. And obviously everyone has a different journey. Some players are lucky enough that they have more endorsement deals. So it really depends. I'll let you know once things are comfortable.
"I became very grateful for little things, like sunshine. I really simplified it." Johanna Konta
"I don't think you'll speak to any elite athlete who, along with their family, hasn't had to make a financial sacrifice. That's definitely true of my family. That's part of the nature of this sport. It's not cheap. But we're a strong family unit and we're in this together. My family are a huge support."
By the time she reaches Wimbledon, Konta might be among the world's top 32, which would give her a seeding and a protected place in the draw.
Climbing the ranks, however, has never seemed to be her focus. "To be completely honest, results-wise, I don't have any targets," Konta said.
"The most relevant thing for me on this journey I'm on, with the things I'm working on, is to stay healthy. I'm going to be doing everything in my power to make that happen.
"I want to make sure that I stay very present and that every single day I go out on the court, whether it's for practice or a match, and that I finish that day saying that I've done my best. If I can do that consistently, then that would have been a successful year.
"Results, I can't control those. There are only certain things I can control and effort is number one of those. As long as I keep enjoying what I'm doing, I'll give myself the best chance to do well.
"It's never guaranteed. I keep reminding everyone that I'm competing against players who are working just as hard as I am. Some days I'll get beaten and that's just the way it goes. I don't measure myself by my WTA ranking."